This submission in from Heather Myers, entitled simply Mr. Cooper. Two days left to submit your entries to the official 40th anniversary D.B. Cooper poetry contest.

Mr. Cooper, what is your real name?
Did you know that when you jumped that night
You would parachute to fame?
That your legend is celebrated even today?
That your name, the one we know, meets my lips when I pray?

And I know in my heart you got away

It can only be said and it can only be now
How one man turned this country upside down
It rained that night but he took flight
Who knew what he felt before taking that step
I wonder if he worried he’d lose the bet
But he didn’t bat an eye
He fell into the sky

It can only be then but it can never be now
I wonder how life would have turned out if he had never been around
I wonder if he counted the stars up in the sky
I wonder if the moon provided enough light
But he pushed all those worries aside
He fell into the sky

It can only be soon because it used to be now
I’m sitting outside immersed in the dark
Watching the swings move at my favorite park
And just for tonight, I’m going to help you hide
And you can be mine as the stars shine bright

Now it’s clear you’re really here